Tuesday, June 04, 2019

NeoLiberal austerity is a cruel policy which robs the state of its ability to help people. In the UK, it is also mass-murder:

More than 130,000 deaths in the UK since 2012 could have been prevented if improvements in public health policy had not stalled as a direct result of austerity cuts, according to a hard-hitting analysis to be published this week.

The study by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) thinktank finds that, after two decades in which preventable diseases were reduced as a result of spending on better education and prevention, there has been a seven-year “perfect storm” in which state provision has been pared back because of budget cuts, while harmful behaviours among people of all ages have increased.

Had progress been maintained at pre-2013 rates, around 131,000 lives could have been saved, the IPPR concludes. Despite promises made during the NHS’s 70th birthday celebrations last year to prioritise prevention, the UK is now only halfway up a table of OECD countries on its record for tackling preventable diseases.

That's 130,000 totally preventable deaths because Tories wanted to slash state spending to keep taxes on the rich low. Its simply murder on a colossal scale. And the Ministers responsible for it should be prosecuted for it.

Meanwhile, every time I see numbers like this, I'm left wondering: how many New Zealanders has austerity killed? How many people did Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson murder with their cuts? How many are still dying today because those cuts have never been reversed? Are there any studies? Or are we all looking the other way because Boomers got tax cuts and a housing bubble?